The present invention relates to cattle slaughtering lines, and in particular meat stripping lines.
In the known art slaughtered animals are cut into quarters, and specifically into two hind quarters and two fore quarters. The quarters are then stripped of meat and divided into the various meat pieces. Stripping is carried out by resting said quarters on a work bench on which specialized workers known as meat strippers operate to cut off the various meat pieces, known as cuts, and deposit them in appropriate collection baskets.
Each meat stripper is specialized in separating one or more specific cuts from the animal quarter, maximum productivity being achieved by making each meat stripper always separate the same cut.
In industrial slaughtering plants, from which high productivity is required, this procedure is of poor efficiency because the various meat strippers have to operate simultaneously on the same quarter, which slows down the entire meat processing operation.
Consequently in the slaughter industry there is a requirement to use a meat stripping line in which the flow of quarters and the work of the meat strippers are organized to a maximum extent.
An object of the present invention is to satisfy this requirement within the framework of a rational and reliable solution.
The object of the present invention is achieved according to the present invention by providing an animal meat stripping line which comprises an endless rail supporting a plurality of movable carriages, each provided with means enabling them to move along the rail, the meat quarters to be stripped being hooked onto them.
Each carriage is provided with a support mechanism for the meat quarter, means for positioning meat quarter at the required height to bring each cut to the most comfortable working height for the operator who is to separate it, means for supporting the quarters during the meat stripping operation, and means for collecting the separated meat cuts.
The processing line of the present invention is also provided with usual means for feeding the quarters to said carriages, means for emptying said collection means for the stripped meat pieces, and means for washing the collection means for the stripped meat pieces. There is also provided a line for withdrawing and evacuating the meat scraps resulting from the stripping.
Because of its characteristics, the line operation is very flexible.
The carriages are driven continuously along the line, each meat stripper following the carriage for the distance necessary to separate the meat cut of his responsibility.
The speed at which the carriages move is adjusted such as to give each operator sufficient time to separate his cut or cuts.
The maximum number of operators dedicated to the line corresponds to the number of cuts to be separated. However the line can also operate with a smaller number of operators if each operator is required to separate more than one cut.
In passing from one line portion to the next, the means which set the height of the quarter hanging from the carriage operate to bring to a convenient height that cut which is to be separated by the next operator.